Increased testing of healthcare workers taking place, Health Minister says

Increased testing for Covid-19 will take place among healthcare workers, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on social media. 

Malta has its fair share of healthcare workers who contracted the virus, especially in the initial staged when imported cases were being recorded. However, on Monday, another case involving a 54-year-old male healthcare worker, who was both at Mater Dei Hospital and Mount Carmel, emerged and contact tracing was still going on to determine from where he could have contracted the infection.

In total Malta has so far carried out 10,923 swab tests, with 555 tests taking place on Sunday night alone. The island so far has one of the highest testing rates in Europe.

On 2 April it was announced that a machine capable of testing 800 samples each day for Covid-19 would start being used.

The robotic machine, which will be housed at Mater Dei’s Pathology Department, can process test results within minutes. Malta is one of the first countries in Europe to have access to such a machine.

READ MORE: New machine at Mater Dei can perform 800 COVID-19 tests a day